MERRIMACK - Town officials are focusing on how to regulate ATV use in the Horse Hill Nature Preserve, starting with marking the wetlands. Although ATV use is not allowed in the 563-acre Horse Hill Nature Preserve, police cannot enforce the policy without a change in the town's administrative code and the posting of the land's perimeter. They can, however, cite people who ride through wetlands because it is a violation of state law.

The cost of posting the 34,000 linear feet of the parcel's border with signs prohibiting ATV use would require roughly 180 signs placed at the required 300 feet apart, Public Works Director Ed Chase said. Not including labor and costs to survey the land's border, posting the property would cost $10,000 to $15,000, he said.

State Rep. Chris Christensen, R-Merrimack, said fewer informal signs stating "ATV use by permission only" would be a better way to control ATVs in the town-owned land by keeping the policy "a low-key, friendly town type of thing."

Last Thursday, the board of selectmen voted unanimously to approve the first step in controlling ATV use on the property - designating where the wetlands in the parcel are.

Roughly one-third of the land is made up of wetlands, and state law already prohibits their destruction. Consequently, no new local ordinance is required to prevent ATV use through the wetland.

Starting at 2 p.m. yesterday, Conservation Commission Chairman Andy Powell, Horse Hill Nature Preserve Ad-Hoc Committee Chairman Tim Tenhave, a Merrimack police officer and a handful of volunteers posted the major trail heads, informing ATV riders that they will be in violation of state law if they ride through the wetlands.

The group posted 12 signs over four hours yesterday. "We can't get everywhere (with the signs), but at least we can get the most commonly abused areas," Tenhave said.

Throughout the afternoon, the group came across several areas where wetland damage was obvious, Powell said.

According to the Horse Hill Nature Preserve Master Plan adopted by the board of selectmen, ATV use will be prohibited on the property until a viable club organizes to create trails and enforce rules.

Roger Blais, who served on the property's master plan committee, has resurrected a former Merrimack ATV club called the Right Riders to establish trails on property.

Currently, ATV use is permitted in a portion of the town dump and a parcel known as Greater Woods.

On Thursday, selectmen also voted to have town staff develop a recommendation by the March 25 selectmen's meeting on how best to regulate ATV use in the Horse Hill Nature Preserve